Article sorting system



May 24, 1966 w. w. COLLINS ETAL 3,252,595

ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM 19 Sheets-Sheet l Filed April .30, 1962 EEZ @a:CQQ /T QLQQ vom QQ RAV@ May 24, 1966 w. w. COLLINS I-:TAL 3,252,595

ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM 19 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 30, 1962 om di wmom@ ci m: .l

INvEN-rons WILLIAM w. coLLms PAUL A. GRANT BY /ww ATTORNEY May 24, 1966w. W. COLLINS ETAL 3,252,595

ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM Filed April so. 1962 19 Sheets-sheet 5 9 v mi m!El X :,/f

F'I [i l WILLIAM W. COLLINS PAUL A. GRANT BY @LW /M' ATTORNEY May 24,1966 w. w. COLLINS x-:TAL 3,252,595

ARTICLE SQRTING SYSTEM Filed April 5o, 1962 19 sheets-sheet 4 INVENTORSWlLLAM W. COLLINS PAUL A. GRANT ATTORNEY May 24, 1966 w. w` COLLINS ETAL3,252,595

ARTCLE SORTI NG SYSTEM Filed April SO, 1962 19 Shee'cS-Sheeb 5 D Il) FIEEI INVENTORS WILLIAM W. COLLINS PAUL A. GRANT ATTORNEY W. Wv COLLINS ETAMay 24, 1966 May 24, 1966 w. w. COLLINS ETAL 3,252,595

ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM Filed April so, 1962 19 sheets-sheet a QI S5 L: lE

INVENTORS WILLIAM W. COLLINS PAUL A. GRANT ATTORNEY May 24, 1966 w. w.COLLINS ETAL 3,252,595

ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM 19 Sheecs-Sheei'l 9 Filed April 30, 1962INvENToRs WILLIAM w. COLLINS PAUL A. GRANL BY /f ATTORNEY May 24, 1966W. W. CQLUNS ETAL 3,252,595

ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM Filed April 30, 1962 19 Sheecs-Shee'l loINVENTORS WILLIAM Vl. COLLINS F'II3 1EI BY E L/ZE Ihr/LL ATTORNEY May24, 1966 w. w. COLLINS ETAI. 3,252,595

ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM Filed April 3o, 1962 19 sheets-sheet 11 DIVERTERI v INFORMATIONk HRS-HSECONDITHIRD *SECONDARY I \SECONDARY STAGE: STAGE1STAGE STORAGE KEYBOARD PD AND coDER LSD Lscm@ LSBQ? LsA L I l l I PEPe2 C":"l Bq?" ANL @Ew-f :19e-f: :196+: Il

DIVERTER L INFORMATON BUFFER REGISTER PRIMARY MEMORY I w DRUM 10-5,

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ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM 19 Sheets-Sheet l5 Filed April 30, 1962 wm. F11'3 1 E'l T w n Fm E H 2 1. P SG l... DU L A 1 RP .M H S/ m P P T i n lTE! c Q A .x A D 2 A m o. m L ...w 1 SJ B X Inl/WS /wL Yil- .um CWL B LOl|| Il- UW 011| AOI J LEHU H B l IIICII M H- U H L. LV SSP P W Y S l ll I.- P Irl: ITA P la: P B 7 B L A B. H B F Y P A E L P A S m. .um S B 0S m T C L S P L A S UHL A S q W B Olli! I- W. o|l| l BPP s i l l I- C HL l M mm llll iP Tllm 1 1- c C C. L E B F L B L C c L 0 TG.T S O S 0 S RTE L 5 N L y S n.. L E 2 y m AWANUS 0111.1 1.1L? o.1!| IJWC Q 1 i 1 x laM 1 NI ...WCE A U I H TT L 0 ST R om r1.. c o p T.- ,f 5&0 T H l c HmHUHc RP T C. P C U C FSPP H l`R C i C P( P E EE .D S H C MC MM@ .L P H il(l S UB l m P 1 a mf 7 s Y U L n 9 V AM w P H 8 |11! P [ITL l! F Il I l 9m P u u 3 P o.. .Uelusy N P l I n.. D S C 'IL P P B PHAU May 24, 1966Filec April 50, 1962 W. W. COLLINS ETAL ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM 19Sheets-Sheet l 4 L|\ F- I E 1 7 A.

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Filed April 30, 1962 May 24, 1966 .m c 2 T. m .n m S 2 T 2 H N Il i. SCIIA D l.. W fl l n.v U m T CE i@ C C C H( NES ...Il T H H l 2 :mw B Y Lp f L B T C DMV. T RL N N MMM r f r r r f OIEG LR l CPMS A l d. M N 5l..l l W E I :Ilm H CII .l R. l R 2 R j R L l f L. o 9 7 5 4 3 9 .qu 3 3 22 2 2 2 2 1 O ZO-.rOmw V RBB-4 RSP-3 mvEN-rons WILLIAM w. coLLms PAUL A.GRANT BY /QM ATTORNEY May 24, 1966 w. w. COLLINS ETAL 3,252,595

ARTI CLE SORT ING SYSTEM 19 Sheets-Sheet le Filed April 30, 1962INVENTORS WILLIAM w. COLLINS PAUL A. GRANT BY fflM/f/z MM PSSQ RE-l(P9562) DG-PSSQ F'I 1EA DD AAD EEA HHE T H .IEE msTD D .HAIA NR NRREAOIEWR Ps-Ps w A n B 2 .w s 2 P ATTORNEY May 24, 1966 w. w. COLLINSf-:TAL 3,252,595

ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM 19 Sheets-Sheet l 7 Filed April 50, 1962 VIM-P952nca-P951 G-Pesx F I E ATTORNEY May 24, 1966 w. w. COLLINS ETAL 3,252,595

ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM Filed April 50, 1962 19 Sheets-Sheet 18 13T-P952ST- P952 FROM SS-FiSZ FROM SS-PZSZ INVENTORS UG' WILLIAM W. COLLINS PAULA. GRANT F I E l El E ATTORNEY May 24, 1966 Filed April 30, 1962 li'Il31El W. W. COLLINS ETAL ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM 19 Sheets-Sheet 19 WILLIAMW. COLLINS PAUL A. GRANT ATTORNEY United States Patent() 3,252,595ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM William W. Collins, San Jose, and Paul A. Grant,Campbell, Calif., assigner-s to FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif., acorporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 30, 1962, Ser. No. 190,889 9 Claims.(Cl. 214-11) This invention relates to article sort-ing systems. Morespecically, the form of the invention to be described relates to anarticle sorting system of the type which may 'be referred to as a matrixsystem. In such a system, articles *are independently operator-fed ttoeach of a number of primary conveyors, and their utilimate destinationis entered into the system control. The articles are automaticallytransferred to any one of a number of secondary conveyors. Finally, inthe system of the present invention, the `articles on the secondaryconveyors are in turn diverted to one of a number of destinations orzones disposed along the secondary conveyors, and the articles areindividually directed to their destinations or zones in accordance withassignments made by the operator ait the originating primary conveyors.

It is an object of the present invention to make possible the placementof articles having various destinations on any of a number of primaryconveyors, followed by the transfer of the articles to an appropriateone of a number of secondary conveyors, and the transfer of articlesfrom each secondary conveyor to ,the appropriate one of a number ofpreassigned destinations or zones along each secondary conveyor.

An object that is a corollary to the above is that of keeping track ofeach article during its travel from a coding operator at the inputstation of each prim-ary conveyor to its final destination along anassigned secondary conveyor.

Another object is to both keep track of the articles and to prevent aprimary conveyor from discharging articles into spaces on a secondaryconveyor that are occupied by parcels discharged from an upstreamprimary conveyor. In accordance with the present invention a bufferstorage device is provided at the transfer zones between the pn'- maryand secondary conveyors whereby` articles can be held up or stored incase of incipient interference of the type mentioned above.

Another Vobject is to keep track of the articles throughout their entirecourse in the system including their passage through the ytemporary orbuffer storage units just referred to.

A further object is to inhibit release of articles from the storage orbuifer conveyors to the associated secondary conveyors until suitablyplaced vacant spots on the secondary conveyors are available.

It is also an object of the present invention to maintain apredetermined minimum spacing between articles lon the secondaryconveyors, even though the articles are not uniform in size. Thisspacing must be suflicient to prevent interference of secondary articlediverters at the assigned article destinations yalong each secondaryconveyor, with articles on the same secondary conveyor that areapproaching or leaving the aforesaid assigned secondary article conveyordiverters.

A furthe-r object is to minimize the spacing required between theprimary conveyors of the system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide efficientutilization of the length of the secondary conveyors available toreceive articles `from the primary conveyors, while maintaining therequired minimum spacing to prevent interference at the secondaryarticle diverters as referred to above.

Still another object of the invention is to permit each ice operator atYthe feed station for his primary conveyor to pace the transfer ofincoming articles to the primary conveyor, in accordance with the timerequired to read and code the article destination, or the article facingtime.

The manner in which these and other objects and advantages may beattained will be apparent from the following detailed description landthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic plan of the system of the presentinvention adapted to post oice requirements, with some of the conveyorsomitted.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary diagra-nnnatic vertical section taken on 'line2 2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary diagrammatic vertical section ltaken online 33 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic perspective of several feed stations at theprimary conveyors.

yFIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic plan of a feed station for a primaryconveyor, including a primary diverter for transferring articles to :asecondary conveyor that does not require buffer storage.

FIGURE 6 is a diagrammatic perspective of a portion of a secondaryconveyor with secondary diverters and destination slides stationed alongthe secondary conveyor.

FIGURE 6A is a diagrammatic longitudinal vertical section taken throughone of the secondary. diverters of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 6B is a diagram-matic vertical section taken on line 6B-6B ofFIGURE 6A.

FIGURE 7 is a perspective of a plurality of buffer conveyors at theintersection of primary and secondary conveyors.

FIGURE 8 is a side elevation of a buite-r conveyor.

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary section taken on line 9-9 of FIGURE 8 showinga portion of the buffe-r conveyor drive.

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary section taken on line 10-10 of FIGURE 8showing a mounting for the buffer conveyor gates.

FIGURE 11 is an end view of a butter conveyor, look- Y ing along line11-11 of FIGURE 8.

FIGURE 13 is a fragmentary section taken on line 13-13 of FIGURE 12.

FIGURE 14 is a schematic diagram showing a buffer conveyor at theintersection of a primary and a secondary conveyor. The figure alsoshows a highly simplied diagram of the control system.

FIGURE 14A is a schematic side elevation of a buffer conveyor at theintersection of a primary and a secondary conveyor.

FIGURE 15 is a diagrammatic plan of the system showing a singlesecondary conveyor and more than one primary conveyor. The control forthe system .is shown in simplified block diagram form.

FIGURE 16 is a diagrammatic plan like that of FIG- URE 15, showing theinhibit release and article sensing circuits ata secondary conveyor.

FIGURES 17A and 17B form a composite wiring diagram of the internalbuffer conveyor control circuit.

FIGURES 18A-18C are diagrams which when placed side-by-side form acomplete diagram of the control sys- `tem :of the entire machine of thepresent invention.

FIGURE 19 is a circuit diagram of a bistable multivibrator suitable foruse in the storage-s and registers.

General description of the apparatus The system and apparatus to hedescribed and illustrated as embodying the invention, will be one thatisv

6. AN ARTICLE SORTING SYSTEM COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF PRIMARYCONVEYORS, AN INTERSECTING SECONDARY CONVEYOR, BUFFER STORAGE CONVEYORSFOR TRANSFERRING ARTICLES FROM EACH PRIMARY CONVEYOR TO THE SECONDARYCONVEYOR, EACH OF SAID BUFFER STORAGE CONVEYORS COMPRISING A SERIES OFSUCCESSIVE, SINGLE ARTICLE STORAGE CONVEYOR SECTIONS, ARTICLE SENSORMEANS AT THE DELIVERY END OF EACH OF SAID BUFFER STORAGE CONVEYORSECTIONS, MEANS CONTROLLED BY SAID ARTICLE SENSOR MEANS FOR SEQUENTIALLYADVANCING A SINGLE ARTICLE FROM SECTION TO SECTION, ARTICLE SENSOR MEANSAT SAID SECONDARY CONVEYOR UPSTREAM OF EACH BUFFER STORAGE CON-